Refurbishment of Premises for Kindergarten
Few economic resources; a large surface to transform. An interior space; a playground. We had to respond to the needs of the town, a need that becomes peremptory in a region that suffers the pressure of depopulation. A town that needs facilities, services, and aid for those who remain living there, so that they are not tempted by migration.
The kindergarten is located in the space where there were placed two classrooms. An unused space, devoid of children, inside the only primary school in Villalón de Campos. A location embedded in the flat geometry that described the voices of the imaginary characters of Delibes in Tierra de Campos.
Facing the lack of budget - around 50,000 € - for complete almost three hundred square meters composed by the patio and the classroom, we decided to use unusual materials with industrial character. Materials like the OSB panel and the yellow polycarbonate were chosen for this purpose.
Industrial materials, which reverts their industrial condition from being cold and aseptic to become something more kind, tactile, warm and above all cheerful; how difficult it is to get away from color when it comes to making buildings for children.
Our intention is to revert the original properties of the materials installed by the way in which they interact with the light, by its arrangement or combination.
The osb/polycarbonate duality is suitable to establish a dialogue of opposites in order to create architectural tensions that provoke complex situations enriching the space.
Solid/vaporous, opaque/translucent, natural/artificial, are inherent qualities of both materials that are incorporated in this small room.
The polycarbonate helps to stratifying perceptions, depth and thickness of the enclosure, stretching the space from its condition of veil, it seems that there are multiple backgrounds when in reality both the OSB and the polycarbonate are sharing the same plane.
A small, social, needed renovation and above all a sensible intervention that stays resisting against the shadow defined by the depopulation.
